Central ascribes to me this statement: “[The holocaust is] obviously evil, and if you don’t agree with me, you’re evil too.” And he asks me why I refuse to give a similar answer with respect to the Canaanites. Here is the difference between my demand for a “yes or no” answer regarding the holocaust and my refusal to give a simple “yes or no” answer regarding the Canaanites: The Nazis never claimed to be under a divine command to exterminate the Jews. They claimed their actions were based on their desire for racial cleansing within their territories.
Central suggests that it is at least conceivable that someone could come up with a justification for the holocaust (e.g., the killers thought the Jews were demons). That suggestion is irrelevant. We know why the Nazis did it. They told us, and given the Nazis’ self-reported justification for their actions, it is not possible to view the holocaust as other than objectively evil That is the very reason it is often used as the very paradigm of unspeakable evil.
I asked nightlight to admit that the holocaust was evil, yes or no. Instead he blithered about the cosmos and “different evaluations,” etc. So yes, I stand by my statement: A person such as nightlight who refuses to admit the holocaust was evil in fact participates to some extent in that evil and is therefore himself evil. Every time a person fails to condemn the holocaust in the strongest possible terms, that person makes the risk of another holocaust just a little higher. And that person should be shunned, shamed and condemned at every opportunity.